Biden makes the case for ratifying START treaty with Russia

WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (KUNA) -- US Vice President Joe Biden made on Wednesday the case for ratifying in Congress the new START treaty with Russia affirming that President Barack Obama "has shown that missile defense and arms control can proceed hand-in-hand." "In September 2009, when President Obama decided to alter his predecessor's plans for missile defense in Europe, some critics claimed that we had sacrificed our allies in the interest of the "reset" with Russia. Others thought that we would derail the reset by proceeding with the new plan. The skeptics were wrong on both counts," wrote Biden in an op-ed published in today's Wall Street Journal.
"At NATO's summit in Lisbon last weekend, President Obama united Europe behind our missile-defense plans and received strong support for the New Start Treaty that is currently before the Senate. In doing so, he proved that missile defense and arms control can proceed hand-in-hand," he added.
Some Republican Senators, mainly Senator Jon Kyl who is negotiating with the White House, have hinted that the treaty could not pass before next year when the new Congress takes over and they have been asking for more allocation of money for modernizing US nuclear capabilities and to remove any Russian precondition on deploying US defense missile systems.
Biden noted that "it is hard to remember how much relations between the United States and our European allies had frayed before this administration took office. U.S. leadership was viewed negatively by many foreign publics, and U.S. policies often met with opposition from our traditional partners." "The positive atmosphere in Lisbon and the substantial progress on priorities like missile defense, arms control and the Russia reset simply would not have been possible without nearly two years of intensive diplomacy," he added.
Biden affirmed that the "ballistic missile threat to our allies, partners and deployed forces is real and growing, particularly from Iran. Unlike previous approaches, this NATO missile-defense system will protect all NATO allies in Europe, not just some. And it will protect more European territory sooner than the system it replaced." "The capability will improve over time, addressing existing and near-term threats first, then expanding to provide greater coverage and protection as the threat and technology evolve," he added.
Biden mentioned that NATO missile defense "also provides the opportunity for further improvements in both NATO-Russian and U.S.-Russian relations. NATO and Russia agreed at Lisbon to carry out a joint ballistic missile threat assessment, to resume theater missile-defense exercises, and to explore further cooperation on territorial missile defense "things that were nearly unimaginable two years ago." "These agreements underscore the strategic importance the alliance attaches to improving its relationship with Russia. But trust and confidence in our relationship with Russia would be undermined without Senate approval of the New Start Treaty, which reduces strategic nuclear forces to levels not seen since the 1950s, and restores important verification mechanisms that ceased when the first Start Treaty expired last December," he added.
The New START treaty was signed between President Barack Obama and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev in Prague last April, but congressional ratification is still pending.
"New Start is also a cornerstone of our efforts to reset relations with Russia, which have improved significantly in the last two years. This has led to real benefits for U.S. and global security," wrote Biden.
"Russian cooperation made it possible to secure strong sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions, and Russia canceled a sale to Iran of an advanced anti-aircraft missile system that would have been dangerously destabilizing. Russia has permitted the flow of material through its territory for our troops in Afghanistan," he concluded. (end) jm.sd KUNA 242126 Nov 10NNNN